Pembrolizumab (intravenous route)

Description

Pembrolizumab injection is used to treat melanoma (a type of skin cancer) that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It is also used to help prevent melanoma from coming back after it and lymph nodes affected by cancer have been removed by surgery in patients with Stage IIB, Stage IIC, or Stage III melanoma.

Pembrolizumab injection is used alone to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has spread, whose tumors express PD-L1 and do not have an abnormal EGFR or ALK gene in patients who have not received other cancer treatments. It is also used alone to treat NSCLC that has spread, whose tumors express PD-L1 and have an abnormal EGFR or ALK gene in patients who have received other cancer medicines (eg, platinum) that did not work well. Pembrolizumab injection is also used alone as first-line treatment for stage III NSCLC in patients who cannot have surgery or chemotherapy with radiation or for NSCLC that has spread and whose tumors express PD-L1 without an abnormal EGFR or ALK gene. This medicine is also used in combination with pemetrexed and platinum-containing chemotherapy to treat NSCLC that has spread and whose tumors do not have an abnormal EGFR or ALK gene. Pembrolizumab injection is also used together with carboplatin and paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel to treat squamous NSCLC that has spread. It is also used alone to help prevent lung cancer from coming back after cancer has been removed by surgery and have received other cancer medicines (eg, platinum) in patients with Stage IB and the tumor is 4 centimeter (cm) or larger, Stage II, or Stage IIIA NSCLC. Pembrolizumab injection is also used in combination with platinum-containing chemotherapy before surgery in patients who have early stage NSCLC which can be removed by surgery and then used alone after surgery to help prevent lung cancer from coming back.

Pembrolizumab injection is used in combination with pemetrexed and platinum-containing chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma (cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and chest wall) that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery.

Pembrolizumab injection is used in combination with platinum and fluorouracil as first-line treatment of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. This medicine is also given to patients whose tumors express PD-L1 or patients who have received other cancer medicines (eg, platinum) that did not work well.

Pembrolizumab injection is used to treat relapsed (cancer that has come back) or refractory (cancer that did not respond to treatment) classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) in adults. This medicine is also used to treat cHL in children who have tried a treatment that did not work, or whose cHL has returned after 2 or more previous lines of treatment.

Pembrolizumab injection is used to treat primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL) in patients who have tried a treatment that did not work, or whose PMBCL has returned after 2 or more previous lines of treatment.

Pembrolizumab injection is used to treat urothelial cancer (a type of urinary tract cancer) that has spread throughout the body (metastatic) or cannot be removed by surgery (advanced). This medicine is used in combination with enfortumab vedotin-ejfv injection. It is also used alone in patients who are not able to receive platinum-containing chemotherapy (eg, carboplatin or cisplatin) or patients who have received platinum-containing chemotherapy that did not work well. This medicine is also used alone to treat patients with high-risk Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-unresponsive, high-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) with a tumor type called carcinoma in situ (CIS) with or without papillary tumors who cannot receive or have decided not to have surgery to remove the bladder.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used to treat microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) solid tumor that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It is given to patients who have received other cancer treatments that did not work well. This medicine is also used to treat MSI-H or dMMR colorectal cancer (CRC) that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used in combination with other cancer treatments (eg, trastuzumab, fluoropyrimidine, platinum) as first-line treatment of gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma in patients whose cancer has an abnormal HER2-positive gene, whose tumors express PD-L1, and has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. This medicine is also used in combination with other cancer treatments (eg, fluoropyrimidine, platinum) as first-line treatment of gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma in patients whose cancer has an abnormal HER2-negative gene and has spread or cannot be removed by surgery.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used to treat esophageal or gastroesophageal junction carcinoma that cannot be cured by surgery or combination of chemotherapy and radiation. It is used in combination with other cancer treatments (eg, fluoropyrimidine, platinum) or alone in patients who have received 1 or more types of cancer treatment that did not work well and whose tumors are squamous and express PD-L1.

Pembrolizumab injection is used in combination with other cancer treatments, with or without bevacizumab, to treat cervical cancer that has returned or spread, or does not go away, and whose tumors express PD-L1. It is also used alone to treat cervical cancer that has returned or spread, and whose tumors express PD-L1 in patients who have received other cancer medicines that did not work well. This medicine is also used in combination with chemotherapy and radiation to treat FIGO 2014 stage III to IVA cervical cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used to treat a type of liver cancer called hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients who have HCC after having hepatitis B and have received cancer medicines that did not contain PD-1 or PD-L1 blocking medicine.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine to treat a type of bile duct or gallbladder cancer called biliary tract cancer (BTC) that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used to treat a kind of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) that has returned or spread, or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) that has returned or spread and cannot be cured by surgery or radiation.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used in combination with other cancer treatments (eg, axitinib, lenvatinib) as first-line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a kind of kidney cancer, in patients whose cancer has spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It is also used alone to treat kidney cancer in patients who are at intermediate-high or high risk of the cancer coming back after surgery to remove all or part of your kidney, or remove all or part of your kidney and surgery to remove cancer that has spread to other parts of the body (metastatic lesions).

Pembrolizumab injection is also used alone to treat microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) advanced endometrial cancer (cancer of the lining of the uterus or womb) in patients who have received other cancer medicines and are not candidates for surgery or radiation. This medicine is also used in combination with lenvatinib to treat advanced endometrial cancer that is mismatch repair proficient (pMMR) or not MSI-H in patients who have received other cancer medicines and are not candidates for surgery or radiation. This medicine is also used in combination with other cancer medicines (eg, carboplatin and paclitaxel) and then used alone to treat advanced endometrial cancer that has returned.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used to treat a type of cancer called tumor mutational burden-high (TMB-H) in patients whose solid tumors have spread or cannot be removed by surgery. It is given to patients who have received other cancer treatments that did not work well and who have no other treatment options.

Pembrolizumab injection is also used together with other cancer medicines before surgery and then continued alone after surgery to treat patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and who are at high risk of the cancer coming back. It is also used together with other cancer medicines to treat patients with TNBC that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery and whose tumors express PD-L1.

Pembrolizumab is a monoclonal antibody that changes the immune system to help control the growth of cancer cells.

This medicine is to be given only by or under the direct supervision of your doctor.